The European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA) provides operational support to EU Member States whose asylum and reception systems are under pressure. Due to the continued pressure on the Belgian asylum and reception system, an agreement was reached between the various Belgian asylum partners and the EUAA, and the "Belgian Operational Plan" for 2025-2026 was officially signed in December 2024.
The EUAA will provide support to the Belgian partners Fedasil and the Immigration Office, and for the first time also to the CGRS, mainly by providing experts and interpreters.
As far as the CGRS is concerned, up to 18 EUAA experts in case processing will be involved. They will deal specifically with examining the admissibility of applications from people who already have a status of international protection in another Member State. In this context, the experts will only conduct personal interviews. As a reminder, the law of 15 December 1980 (Article 57/5 ter, § 1) explicitly provides for the possibility of calling on the staff of another body (in this case, the EUAA) in order to conduct personal interviews. All bars were informed about this aspect of the EUAA support by the Commissioner General.
In addition, "flow managers" will support the CGRS reception helpdesks, whether to register the presence of applicants for international protection or their lawyers, or to guide them to the personal interview room.
Eventually, up to 26 interpreters will reinforce the EUAA's support. Most of them will assist the EUAA experts in their personal interviews concerning the admissibility of claims, while a smaller number will be deployed to meet specific interpreting needs communicated in advance by the CGRS.